Police had charged 24 students, who are legal adults, with burglary and criminal mischief in connection with the May 1 incident that the students called a senior prank. Another 39 students who were under 18 were charged as juveniles.

The adult cases will not be presented to a grand jury for possible indictment. Instead, the students will face lesser disorderly persons offenses of criminal trespass and criminal mischief, County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announced.

“In coming to this conclusion, we considered the impact that criminal convictions may have on individuals at such an early stage in their life,” the prosecutor said.

Molinelli said he expected the adults would apply for pre-trial diversionary programs, which allow offenses to be handled without a conviction. Any decision to accept the accused into that program would be made by Teaneck’s municipal court judge.

All but one of the juveniles would be eligible for an alternative program known as “stationhouse adjustment,” where young people can be given community service or ordered to pay restitution instead of having an official juvenile record, he added.

Molinelli, however, praised the response from Teaneck and other police agencies.

He said teens running loose through a dark building mixed with armed officers could have caused someone to have been killed or seriously hurt.

“Regardless of the positions that some parents have taken in Teaneck concerning this incident, the entire community should, at the very least, recognize such restraint and admirable behavior by all of the police officers involved,” the prosecutor added.

The large police response came after three alarms were triggered at the school, at 1:06 a.m., 1:44 a.m. and 2:11 a.m., authorities said. Police used a video feed to spot people in the building, but couldn’t make out who was there.

“Thus, as police were dispatched to the scene, all that they knew at the time was that there were a large number of people inside the school premises,” Molinelli said, adding that police followed standard protocol in calling in other agencies because of the large number of intruders.

Students somehow gained access to one to three keys to get into the building, according to the prosecutor.

“Both Teaneck police and school administration continue to investigate how the students came to be in possession of these keys and they should be commended for that,” he said.

The students apparently planned to put balloons in the school and smear Vaseline on door handles, but nearly 100 students amassed at the building, according to Molinelli.

The students upended various furniture and pulled some into hallways, tossed food around the area, smeared Vaseline on doors, drew graffiti around the school and some used marijuana and other drugs, according to the prosecutor.

“It further appears that one or more students did urinate in an area of the building and that garbage cans throughout the building were also overturned,” the statement said.

Molinelli, who met with Teaneck school administrators, said they should continue cooperating with local authorities on how to handle the juveniles.

“The Teaneck school administration has been most cooperative with law enforcement throughout this entire incident, has taken swift and responsive action regarding the students and I am satisfied that the administration was not aware of the planned incident in question,” the prosecutor said.

"I am hopeful that the result today will begin to allow a more productive dialogue by elected officials, the public and students," Molinelli said in detailing his decision. "I wish the best of luck to all of them."